Logos are so important in our digital culture. People define a company based on their logo within seconds, but what makes a good logo. This is a very subjective topic, like all design. I believe an important principle when it comes to logo design is simplicity.
In a world saturated with designs and logos you want your organizations logo to stand out. This means you want to create something that is original, something no one else has thought of before! This is extremely difficult because there has been a lot of different companies and organizations who have had this same thought. If you have a computer repair company you don’t want to just call it “Computer Repair” but you also can’t call it “iFIXit” because that already exists. This has made it incredibly difficult to think of someone totally new. So I feel the best possible solution is to maybe do something that is not 100% new but do it simply and cleanly.
A successful logo can communicate a feeling to someone that expresses what your organization is all about. I am not a naturally creative person. I have had to learn to be creative over the years of doing Graphic Design. So when it comes to logos I want to create something that is simple and clean. The last thing I want is someone to be confused by something that I thought was creative and unique.
I think of the movie That Thing You Do when they are trying to think of the name of their band and the lead singer wants to name it the ONE-ders (like a play on the word wonders). But everyone ends up calling them the Oneders (o-ne-ders).
I would not want to try and make a logo for a church and try and use some imagery that would make people think it is a hospital (uses of cross). So what is the role of you as a designer? Depending on your involvement in the logo (if you are the person wanting the logo or someone hired to design it) you have different influences on the design. Obviously if you are the person wanting the logo you can make whatever you want! The world is your canvas. But if you are someone hired to design a logo that is a little more tricky.
A lot of times you will get people wanting a logo who have no knowledge of the design world at all. I have had people ask me for a logo that was just three different elements in a circle. Even though those three elements were related to their company, that would not be a good logo. Your job as the designer is to:
If someone is hiring you to do a design they are paying you for your time and knowledge. Therefore you should feel no hesitation to throw out any ideas you may have had for their logo, even if they contradict with what the client initially sent you. Hopefully this would get the client an idea of what their brand could look like and possibly stear the design into a better direction.
